This devotional came in email today...
Jesus Could Not Heal the Sick
Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman
"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know" --Acts 2:22
In his book, When Heaven Invades Earth, Pastor Bill Johnson makes an insightful observation about Jesus. "He could not heal the sick. Neither could He deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what he said about Himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self-imposed restriction to live as a man."
Jesus Christ said of Himself, "The Son of can do nothing" (John 5:19). In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning--it means NOTHING, just like it does in English! He had NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever! While he is 100 percent God, He chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once He was redeemed. He made that point over and over again. Jesus became the model for all who would embrace the invitation to invade the impossible in His name. He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God... not as God. If He performed miracles because He was God--then they would be unattainable for us. But if he did them as a man, I am responsible to pursue His lifestyle. Recapturing this simple truth changes everything... and makes possible a full restoration of the ministry of Jesus in His Church.
What were the distinctions of His humanity?
1. He had no sin to separate Him from the Father.
2. He was completely dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him.
What are the distinctions of our humanity?
We are sinners cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Through his sacrifice he has successfully dealt with the power and effect of sin for all who believe. Now nothing separates us from the Father. There remains only one unsettled issue - how dependent on the Holy Spirit are we willing to live?
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I'll set aside the miracles for a sec, so to point out that, miracles or not, Jesus still, by his surrendering to God's will, and his long prayer sessions, and his giving, and his fearlessness, and a bunch of other things, provided us with THE example for living that we, as Christians, should strive to follow.
Back to miracles (and here I mean healing specifically, 'cause I don't ever hear of anyone claimin' to walk on water these days): You fixin' to go Full Gospel, or what?
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 [emphasis mine]
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
THAT's the Gospel; verses 1-4. The rest is eye witness testimony.
If that's what you mean by "Full Gospel" then no. I'm not "fixin' to," I'm already there.
"Full Gospel." You tellin' me you've never heard of that branch of Christendom???
My take?
The gifts of the spirit are real-- let's get that out of the way at the outset. But much of what we see on television and in a lot of churches is not.
Case in point. A very sweet Christian woman I work with speaks in tongues when she prays. I know this because we have prayed together on several occasion. How do I know it was "tongues" and not the "Haba Shaba Baba's"? When she speaks in tongues you hear distinct, unrepeated, words and phrases. Were you to hear her you would hear a language filled with inflection, tone, emphasis; all the things that make language what it is. I have never heard any other "tongues speaker" speak like this. I have always heard something that sounds a lot like "Haba shaba baba"... a lot of jabberwockey nonsense.
Healing? If God is still speaking, He's still healing. Does he use men like Benny Hinn? I don't think so. Even Jesus said, "Your FAITH has made you whole." Also, please note the man in Acts to whom Peter said "Silver and gold have I none..." The text speaks of this man who was "lame from his mother's womb" sitting daily at the Beautiful gate. Jesus went through that gate numerous times but never healed him. Why? Surely He saw the man sitting there begging for coin? Perhaps as He once told His disciples the reason was so that the "works of God should be made manifest in him." Could it be that this man was left unhealed that Peter might, months or years later, demonstrate the power of God through this man?
Do people get healed at Benny Hinn crusades? I wouldn't be surprised if they do. But Mr. Hinn is a false prophet-- and I have all the documentation to prove that statement. His own words give him away. Now, will God use ungodly men to work His will? I'm not sure how to answer that except to say that God heals in His own time; what if that moment of healing is the one moment the healed will finally bend his/her knee and believe? I won't presume to speak for God on this. God is sovereign.
As to the plausibility of healing, God has given us everything we need to heal most maladies, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, even early stages of alzheimers, and autism....... Naturally (once the damage is done, supernatural healing is required). The body, if we are to believe the Bible, is made from the dust of the earth. Which means our body requires those things you can find in the earth for proper balance, maintenance, and healing. Go organic dude, and cut your meat consumption to 20% of your weekly intake and see if in ten days you don't feel better.
Interpretation? In places where it's needed? Yes. In local churches? Probably not. the purpose of tongues was so everyone could hear and understand the Gospel regardless of language barriers. Everyone heard the Gospel in their OWN tongue (Peter spoke Hebrew or Aramaic), not in some heavenly haba-shaba-baba mess. I can see interpretation necessary in a church where people who don't speak the Engleeze are present-- the interpretation being for those who don't understand the "tongues", as the message was meant for those who didn't understand the Engleeze.
Prophesy? Sure. New revelations? No. Everything God intended to "Reveal" has been... within the pages of the Bible. but that's not to say, the Spirit of God does not "Illuminate" passages of scripture in the minds of those diligently seeking truth within those passages. Prophesy in the sense of "God has said you must/will/whathaveyou..." then yes. I do believe. But not in the sense of adding anything new to what has already been revealed. I have to say I'm very skeptical about that.
Slain in the spirit? Where exactly is that in the bible? Holy laughter? Where is that mentioned as a gift of the spirit, or even a sign of the spirit? Well, I just did a quick word search with my trusty e-Sword, and the words "holy" and "laughter" do not appear together in a single verse within the entire New Testament. Nor are the words "slain" and "spirit" found together is a single verse anywhere in the ENTIRE Bible. But my take on this is as follows: God being holy, His Spirit therefore would never cause any of His children to act UNholy. A woman falls, "slain in the spirit" on the stage of a Benny Hinn concert... her dress settles very high on her upper thighs... causing men to see, and think what they should not, and lust. It's not her fault, though! The Holy Spirit of God made it happen!
NOT!!!!
So there you go. EL's take on Gifts and Manifestations of the Spirit. Short form.
"If God is still speaking, then God is still healing" -- absolutely, minus the falderal.
As usual, I do not limit God's ways of manifesting God's power and God's grace to "the Bible" in the same way I think you do. I think we quibble over the concept of "illumination." ... Well, actually, I think what I would consider illumination of Scripture you would call "making up stuff." :-) And what you consider the end all-be all in Scripture I see as a good place to start. But we knew that. :-)
Peace on yer journey, dude. May you see real signs and be humbled by real wonders.